Projection system and projection method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9560327-B2
Application number	US-201514623208-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 16, 2015
Priority date	Feb 19, 2014
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

A projection system includes an image capturing unit which, when a first pattern image is projected on a first projection area, captures an image capture area including the first projection area and at least a portion of a second projection area which overlaps the first projection area to obtain a first captured image and, when a second pattern image is projected on the second projection area, captures the image capture area to obtain a second captured image, a first projection unit which projects a first partial projection-target image extracted from a projection target image based on the first and second captured images and the projection target image on the first projection area, and a second projection unit which projects a second partial projection-target image extracted from the projection target image based on the first and second captured images and the projection target image on the second projection area.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A projection system including multiple projection apparatuses, the projection system comprising:
a first projection unit configured to project a first pattern image on a first projection area;
a second projection unit configured to project a second pattern image on a second projection area, the second projection area partially overlapping the first projection area; and
a first image capturing unit configured to, when the first pattern image is projected on the first projection area, perform first image capture to obtain a first captured image by capturing an image capture area including the first projection area and at least a portion of a second projection area and, when the second pattern image is projected on the second projection area, perform second image capture to obtain a second captured image by capturing the image capture area,
wherein the first projection unit is configured to project a first partial projection-target image extracted from a projection target image based on the first captured image, the second captured image, and the projection target image on the first projection area, and wherein the second projection unit is configured to project a second partial projection-target image extracted from the projection target image based on the first captured image, the second captured image, and the projection target image on the second projection area,
an image-length-information determining unit configured to determine image length information including lateral length of the first pattern image, length of the second pattern image, and lateral length of an overlapping portion between the first pattern image and the second pattern image using the first captured image and the second captured image;
a first generation unit configured to generate first extraction information, the first extraction information specifying an extraction position at which the first partial projection-target image is to be extracted from the projection target image, based on the image length information and lateral length of the projection target image;
a first extraction unit configured to extract the first partial projection-target image from the projection target image using the first extraction information;
a second generation unit configured to generate second extraction information, the second extraction information specifying an extraction position at which the second partial projection-target image is to be extracted from the projection target image, based on the image length information and the lateral length of the projection target image; and
a second extraction unit configured to extract the second partial projection-target image from the projection target image using the second extraction information.

2. The projection system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first extraction information indicates the first extraction start position and a first extraction length for extracting the first partial projection-target image from the projection target image, and
the second extraction information indicates the second extraction start position and a second extraction length for extracting the second partial projection-target image from the projection target image.

3. The projection system according to claim 1 , further comprising a calculation unit configured to calculate a lateral length of an entire projection area using the image length information,
wherein the first generation unit is configured to generate the first extraction information using the image length information, the lateral length of the entire projection area, and the lateral length of the projection target image, and
the second generation unit is configured to generate the second extraction information using the image length information, the lateral length of the entire projection area, and the lateral length of the projection target image.

4. The projection system according to claim 1 , wherein the image-length-information determining unit is configured to determine the lateral length of the second pattern image using the lateral length of the first pattern image and a ratio between the lateral length of the first pattern image and the lateral length of the second pattern image.

5. The projection system according to claim 4 ,
wherein the first pattern image and the second pattern image are images of a same check pattern, and
the image-length-information determining unit is configured to determine a unit length in lateral direction of the check pattern of the first pattern image based on the first captured image, a unit length in lateral direction of the check pattern of the second pattern image based on the second captured image, and is configured to determine the ratio based on the unit length in lateral direction of the check pattern of the first pattern image and the unit length in lateral direction of the check pattern of the second pattern image.

6. The projection system according to claim 1 , further comprising an image-capture-distortion correcting unit configured to apply image-capture-distortion correction to the first captured image and the second captured image.

7. The projection system according to claim 6 , further comprising:
a second image capturing unit;
a second detection unit;
a second position determining unit; and
a superimposing unit,
wherein the second image capturing unit is configured to perform image capture of the second partial projection-target image projected on the second projection area,
if a pointed position is pointed on the projected second partial projection-target image, the second detection unit is configured to detect the pointed position on the captured second partial projection-target image,
the second position determining unit is configured to determine a position, the position corresponding to the detected pointed position, on the projection target image,
the superimposing unit is configured to superimpose an image at the determined position on the projection target image, and
the second projection unit is configured to project the second partial projection-target image, on which the image is superimposed, extracted from the projection target image on the second projection area.

8. The projection system according to claim 7 , further comprising a second calibration unit,
wherein the second projection unit is configured to project a second calibration image on the second projection area,
the second image capturing unit is configured to perform image capture of the second calibration image projected on the second projection area,
the second calibration unit is configured to calculate second calibration information about correspondence between the second calibration image and the captured second calibration image, and
the second position determining unit is configured to determine the pointed position on the second partial projection-target image using the second calibration information and is configured to determine the position on the projection target image using the image length information based on the pointed position.

9. The projection system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a second image capturing unit;
a second detection unit;
a second position determining unit; and
a superimposing unit,
wherein the second image capturing unit is configured to perform image capture of the second partial projection-target image projected on the second projection area,
if a pointed position is pointed on the projected second partial projection-target image, the second detection unit is configured to detect the pointed position on the captured second partial projection-target image,
the second position determining unit is configured to determine a position, the position corre

Assignees

• Ehara Mikinori
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ehara Mikinori

Classifications

• H04N23/698

  for achieving an enlarged field of view, e.g. panoramic image capture · CPC title

• G09G5/377

  for mixing or overlaying two or more graphic patterns (G09G5/02, G09G5/397 take precedence) · CPC title

• G03B21/14

  Details · CPC title

• H04N9/3147

  Multi-projection systems (video walls G06F3/1446) · CPC title

• H04N5/23238

  Electricity · mapped topic